ETON Satellite 750 AM/FM Band Radio (Black)
by Eton
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of ETON Satellite 750 AM/FM Band Radio (Black)
Customer Review: excellent radio
Summary: 5 Stars
More than happy with this radio, super value for the money even at $300.-. Solidly built (battery door is fine, btw) and I truly don't understand the negative comments.Customer Review: Grundig 750
Summary: 5 Stars
Unit arrived on time and as promised, set-up is easy,display clear and easy to understand. Sound quality is good, all features worked with no problems.Customer Review: Grundig Satellite 750 AM/FM-Stereo/Shortwave/Aircraf t Band Radio with SSB (Single Side Band), Black
Summary: 5 Stars
Quality made. Not like those China knock offs. Buy it cheap - buy it twice. You can't go wrong with this.Customer Review: One of the best SW receivers with lots of options
Summary: 4 Stars
Having played around with a variety of other Shortwave radios, I was really on the fence about what to buy. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but I wanted the features of a high-end radio. Shopping around, I realized that this wasn't a reasonable expectation. However, the Grundig 750 seemed to be the best bang for the buck so I ordered it having never touched this particular model.
First and foremost, I was able to get up and running with little fuss. Of course, it took some time to explore the radio and use it to its full potential. Nevertheless, the fantastic design of this radio offered ease of use out of the box, with the more advanced features being utilized by trial and error. Easy to learn, hard to master. A good middle ground.
The options on the radio are the shining points. AM/FM/LW/SW/Air + SSB; I was not able to find another radio that had all of these bands together for the price of $299. LW is mostly useless to have in the US however, as voice communications are limited to ITU region 1 which does not include the United States. So you get either beacons and morse code, or bits of spurious emissions from licensed AM stations. Air band is nice to have for me, especially since I'm only 2 miles from Denver International Airport (Air band is similar to FM just at higher frequencies). In any case, all of the commercial or transmission for public consumption signals are reachable with this radio, and then some.
I appreciate the radio having connections for both Hi-Z and coax antennas. The AM antenna is a rotatable loop, and of course the built in telescoping antenna works very well for what it is, picking up Cuba, Europe, and Asia here in Colorado. Not bad for a built in antenna! Of course, I didn't stay with that and now have a 300 foot longwire for some serious DXing.
Other great features include line in, line out, earphone jack, bass/treble, and rf gain, squelch, and SSB BFO controls.
I have come to realize however that this radio is not perfect, and there really is no perfect shortwave radio.
The first issue I noticed is that the radio is very light for its size. The case seems to be made of cheap plastic and I'm sure there is a minimal of components on the inside, but that's partially due to miniturization as well. However, this radio could have all of these features and controls in a smaller package. The size of the housing is obviously an attempt to convey complexity, when in fact the internal components are quite simple and put into a larger case to give this radio a facade that says, "I'm big and expensive" when it really isn't. I didn't care for this.
I do have to fault the SSB tuning as well. SSB works, no doubt and is fully usable. Many of these other reviewers remark that the SSB is horrible or worthless. I disagree. But the real problem is that SSB is too sensitive. Going to a sideband and then tuning the BFO reveals that it is way too sensitive, resulting in an unnecessary amount of time to tune in to a signal. There should be a reduction drive or anything that could allow for more coarse tuning. The difference between getting a clear voice from a ham operator or getting out of tune gibberish can be a FRACTION of a millimeter on the tuning knob. Sometimes an out of tune SSB signal can be corrected by just touching the knob without intention to turn it. This is unreasonable.
Another fault is the complexity of using the storage function. I have played with it a bit and come to find that it's cumbersome enough to not even use it whether storing or recalling stations. I'd rather go by memory or use good old fashioned pen and paper to keep track of interesting stations.
The higher frequencies (on the SW band only) seem to lose quite a bit of gain regardless of which antenna I use. So, I tuned to 27.185mhz and experimented with my CB radio on channel 19. Despite the apparent loss in gain, the CB transmissions were picked up very loud and clear. It appeared to me however that the lower frequencies are going to have much better propagation regardless of time of day; and I was right. It's much easier for me to get the WWV at 5000khz than it was at 10000khz... even in the middle of the day? Hmm. WWV at 15000khz doesn't even come in at all, ever. But, all of the action on SW is mostly between 5-7mhz so no big deal. There could also be other factors in play that have nothing to do with the radio. I don't know yet and am still experimenting.
I hate to say as well, that there are some quality control issues. The tuning knob works great but seems off-centered and light. Turning the tuning knob reveals that it doesn't twist in a perfect circle, rather has the wobble of an improperly balanced tire. This doesn't affect the function of the radio, but it does make it feel and look cheap.
Furthermore, on my model there is a piece of debris inside the plastic cover of the LCD display. Again, while this doesn't affect the performance, it's noticeable and ugly. Everytime I look at my radio display I see a piece of junk behind the glass. It may seem small to many, but it really irritates me.
Last but not least, I couldn't get the line in to work. I plugged in a device and could get nothing over the speaker at all. For me, this isn't a big deal because I'll not be using the radio to play my mp3s or voice recordings, but hey if it has it as an option, it should be working. All of these flaws (the knob, the debris, the line in jack) point towards chronic quality control issues. Despite this, the radio is still a joy to have.
In summary, if you are serious about SW listening and want variety with multiple antenna options, then look no further. This is the best consumer SW radio I've dealt with. Just don't expect the quality of a $10,000 Yaesu.
Customer Review: great radio for the price
Summary: 4 Stars
I am just getting back into international shortwave listening. I previously owned a Panasonic RF-2200 and a Sony ICF-2010. I find the Grundig 750 on par with Sony. I especially like the antenna attenuation feature. The speaker is pleasant enough but most dxer's will use headphones. For this or any serious shortwave radio, one will need to attach an external antenna. This radio comes alive with an external antenna. If at all possible use a long wire or inverted-L design. There are two external antenna jacks, for two wire and for a coax connection, a BNC connector. You can find a SO-236 to BNC to attach an external antenna. I have not tried an active antenna with this radio. I think this is your best choice under $300. My next radio will be an Icom R75 or a Yaesu 5000. However both are twice the price of the Grudig. For any serious long distant short wave listening, I would avoid the portables in general. While the solar conditions are near the 11 year cycle low, I am picking up stations from around the world, and the conditions will improve for the next 3-4 years so this is a good time to get into the hobby.
After re-reading the negative comments posted here, I thought I'd add that with any shortwave radio, you simply must add some type of antenna. If at all possible, string up a single wire of at least 30' as high as possible and away from sources of interference. Attach a 9:1 balum to 50 or 75 ohm coax to run to the "shack" to change the impedance from 500 to 50mw which the radio's BNC will accept. You will be amazed at the reception. I added an antenna tuner to increase the sensitivity if the antenna, which in my case is a single wire in an 80' inverted-L.